1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an extruded hinged brick molding having an integral hinge and a concealed mounting surface for use as decorative trim around windows and doors in residential and/or commercial construction.
2. Background Art
Decorative brick moldings are well known in the art of residential and or commercial construction. Typically, brick moldings are installed around windows and/or doors in order to give the structure a pleasing, finished appearance by concealing the window mounting hardware and other unsightly irregularities where the exterior siding meets the frame of the window or door. Traditionally in the past, the carpenter or other craftsman constructed the entire window or door frame at the job site, and then trimmed out the windows and doors with brick molding after the windows, doors, and siding had been installed in order to conceal any mistakes or irregularities. As a result, each window frame on a structure was likely to be slightly different in size, and a custom built brick molding, typically made from wood, was thus necessary to in order to give the structure a uniform appearance.
Today, most carpenters and contractors have switched to pre-hung doors and premanufactured window assemblies that are constructed of wood, aluminum, polyvinyl or other materials which offer high durability in adverse weather conditions and a long service life. Polyvinyl materials do not need to be periodically painted or preserved, which greatly lowers maintenance costs, and modern Ultra-Violet inhibitors prevent UV breakdown of polyvinyl materials for many years. These pre-manufactured components are made with precise tolerances, are very uniform in size, and are much easier to trim around than were the old fashioned hand made window and door frames. Although the newer pre-manufactured components are built to rigid quality control standards and are very energy efficient, many homeowners have come to prefer the more substantial look provided by brick molding around the windows and doors. Also, buyers of manufactured housing tend to prefer the more traditional look provided by brick molding, which gives manufactured housing a more finished appearance. Accordingly, building contractors and manufacturers of manufactured housing have again begun to install brick molding around windows and doors. The modern brick moldings, like the windows and doors they surround, are generally constructed of long life, maintenance free polyvinyl rather than the more traditional wood.
In order for polyvinyl brick moldings to be cost competitive with wood and other traditional construction materials, and in order to match the appearance of wood and have the needed strength and stiffness properties, polyvinyl materials typically must be extruded as hollow tubular members. These modem polyvinyl brick moldings have a number of drawbacks. First, in many applications the mounting hardware such as nails, screws or other fasteners used to secure the brick molding to the structure are visible and cannot be countersunk and painted over as on wood moldings, which gives the window or door frame an unsightly and unfinished appearance. Some have attempted to solve this problem by using a two-piece molding in which a base is secured to the structure adjacent the window frame, and then a separate cover plate is secured to the base. Installers have a difficult time matching the miter cuts on the two piece units, and two piece units still have visible mounting hardware. Accordingly, there exists a need for a brick molding for use as trim around windows and doors that is durable and easy to install and that offers a clean, finished appearance.